Multicolor ball-point pen construction

ABSTRACT

The embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is directed to a new multicolored ball-point pen construction which has first and second colored barrel portions with corresponding colored ink cartridges. The barrel portions are held together by a threaded collar or coupling intermediate the pen. The terminating ends of the cartridges within the barrels may be provided with a nonuniform cross section to allow air passages from exterior apertures in the barrel into the cartridge to insure proper ink flow.

United States Patent Steyer 1 Nov. 4, 1975 MULTICOLOR BALL-POINT PEN 785,253 10/1957 United Kingdom 401 34 C S C 270,554 5/1927 United Kingdom.... 401/17 978,585 11/1950 France 401/17 [76] Inventor: Ann Steyer, 20 S. St. Joseph, Joltet,

60436 Primary Examiner-Lawrence Charles [22] Filed: Jan. 21, 1974 Attorney, Agent, or FirmOlson, Trexler, Wolters, [21] pp No: 435,200 Bushnell & Fosse, Ltd.

[52] US. Cl. 401/34 [57] ABS CT 51 Int. cl. 1343K 27/12 The embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is [58] Field of Search 401 /34, 21 217 195 17 directed to a new multicolored ball-point pen construction which has first and second colored barrel [56] References Ci d portions with corresponding colored ink cartridges. UNITED STATES PATENTS The barrel portions are held together by a threaded 2 571 620 10 1951 s l collar or coupling intermediate the pen. The terminat- 9x960 ing ends of the cartridges within the barrels may be 3077184 M1963 vogele 401/34 provided with a nonuniform cross section to allow air 3:335:706 8/!967 JenkiAQIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII111111111 10I/z17 Passages from exterior apertures in the barrel into the FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS cartridge to insure pmper ink 651,387 3/1951 United Kingdom 401/34 2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures US. Patent Nov. 4, 1975 MUL'IIICOLOR BALL-POINT PEN v CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 7 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED I EMBODIMENT Referring, now to FIG. 1, there is seen a multicolor This invention relates generally to improvements in ball-point pen constructed in accordance with the prinwriting instruments, and particularly is directed to ballpoint pen constructions. Specifically, the invention is directed to a ball-point. pen construction of multicolor configuration which enables the user id discard depleted'pen portions and replace themwith a new pen portion having a fresh supply of. writing ink or fluid withoutdiscar dingthe remaining usable portion of the Heretofore, multicolor ball-point pens have beeneither relatively expensive to manufacture or are impractical touse because when one of theball-point pen colors runs out, the pen must be discarded if two color operation. is desired. Therefore, it is wasteful and expensive to utilize pens of this .type. Also, some multicolor pens heretofore provided included three, four 'or more color cartridges within a single barrel which has slide :tabspositioned on the outside portion of the barrel to allow the .user to urge the desired color. cartridge and tip out of the end of the pen. However, this substantially reduces the efficiency of the user in that each time a new color is desired the user must stop what he is doing, examine the pen to findthe proper color, and then retract the color which is now exposed and push out the desired color.=.,

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved multicolor ball-point pen which is both efficient and reliable in operation and simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

Another object of this invention is to provide a multicolor ball-point pen which has readily interchangeable color barrel sections so that depleted ink supplies can be replaced'as necessary. I I

It is still another object of this invention to provide a multicolor ball-point pen which has a nonuniform BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view of a multicolor ball-point pen constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational sectional view of a threaded coupling utilized to join two ball-point pen barrel portions together;

FIG. 3 is an elevational fragmentary view of one portion of the pen of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of a color cartridge to be inserted within the barrel portion of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an elevational sectional view of the assembled replaceable cartridge unit of the pen of this invention; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view illustrating the threaded coupling joining together the ends of a pair of pen portions.

ciples of this invention-and designated generally by reference numeral 10. The ball-point constructionlO includes a first barrel portion ,11 in which is contained a cartridge of ink ofa predetermined color. Most advant'ageously, the outer coloring of the cartridge 11 is; the same the color of 'ink within the cartridge thereby giving an indication to the user of what color will be ob- 'tained from the writing tip. The pen 10 further includes a second barrel portion 12 coupled to the first barrel portion 1 1 by means of a coupling or collar member 13.

Most advantageously, the coupling 13 is a threaded coupling having the threaded portion thereof extend substantially entirely through the entire length of the collar. The color of ink within the second barrel portion 12 is substantially the same as the color of that barrel and thereby provides the'user with two colors of ink in a single pen.

By providing the threaded collar 13, either one of the barrel and cartridge portions ll or 12 can be replaced when the ink supply therein is depleted. Therefore, a substantial increase in savings and efficiency is obtained by allowing the user to discard only that portion of the pen which is no longer functionable while maintainingthe use of the other portion of the pen.

As best seen in FIG. 2, the details of the coupling 13 are illustrated. Here the-threaded portion 14 extends from one end of the coupling to the other'and is easily formed by a single operation to reduce the cost. However, it will be understood that the respective end portions of the thread may be independent of one another to receive its respective barrel portion. A modified version of a barrel portion is illustrated in FIG. 3 and is designated generally by reference numeral 16. Here the barrel portion 16 has a plurality of apertures 17 formed about the upper periphery thereof to provide an air flow passage to the interior of the barrel so that a uniform ink fiow is obtained from the ink cartridge located therein. The barrel 16 is provided with a threaded end portion 18 which, in turn, has a recess formed therein to receive an eraser l9 sufiiciently abrasive for erasing ball-point ink.

The construction of the cartridge positioned within the barrel 16 is illustrated in FIG. 4 and is designated generally by reference numeral 20. Here the cartridge 20 has an enlarged diameter barrel portion 21 leading into a reduced diameter portion 22 which, in turn, has the ball-point mechanism 23 secured to the end thereof. Most advantageously, the end portion 25 of the barrel 21 is of nonuniform configuration when considered in the transverse direction across the longitudinal axis of the cartridge. In the illustrated embodiment, the cartridge 20 has a plurality of serrations 24 formed therealong to provide recesses and protuberances.

FIG. 5 illustrates the assembled construction of the barrel and pen cartridge. Here it can be seen that the serrated portion 24 abuts the solid wall portion 26 formed at the end of the barrel opposite the writing point. An opening 25 is formed at the tapered portion of the barrel and the writing point 23 extends tllfough the opening for use. While serrations 24 are illustrated as being formed of contiguously oppositely sloping edges, it will be understood that circular or square ficallops can be incorporated without departing from the invention. By providing the end portion with the seallops 24, air flow passes through the opening 17 and into the interior of the cartridge to provide uniform ink flow. Therefore, the end wall 26 can be constructed as a solid wall portion to prevent ink from coming in contact with the eraser 19.

Referring now to FIG. 6 the details of assembly are .illustrated. Here the barrel portions 11 and 12 are firmly tied together by the coupling member 13 by means of the threaded end portions 27 and 28. In this embodiment, air flow passage to the interior of the barrel portions 11 and 12 may be obtained through apertures 29 and 30 formed in the end wall portions 31 and 32 thereof, respectively. The barrel portions 11 and 12 areprovided with erasers 33 and 34 which, in turn, are

inserted into recesses 36 and 37. in this instance the erasers may have passages 33a and 34a therethrough to be in communication with the apertures 29 and 30 respectively. When this is the case a single aperture through the coupling 13 may be provided to provide an air passage to both of the cartridges within their respective barrel portions.

The pen construction of this invention can be provided with a plurality of independent replaceable barrel and cartridge units which forms a single disposable writing unit to be detached from the pen construction 10. Therefore, when oneside of the pen becomes depleted of writing fluid, it can be detached and dis- The pen construction of this invention is contemplated to be sold in colors such as blue, red, black and green, it being understood that other suitable colors can be utilized by making independent barrel portions of the appropriate color.

What has been described is a simple and efficient multicolor ball-point pen construction which is inexpensive to manufacture while offering the user a high degree of flexibility in discarding unusable portions of the pen and replacing only that portion without completely discarding the entire pen. Accordingly, it will be understood that variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts disclosed and claimed herein.

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. A pen construction comprising in combination: first and second pen barrels each of a first predetermined length and each having exposed points at one end and eraser-holding means at the other end thereof, an eraser secured within said eraser-holding means of each pen barrel, said eraser and said eraser-holding means combining to form a second predetermined length substantially less than said first predetermined length of said pen barrels, securing means formed integral with said eraser-holding means, said first and second pen barrels each include an end barrel formed adjacent said eraser-holding means, an ink cartridge secured within said pen barrels, each ink cartridge having a non-uniform end in abutment with the end wall of said pen barrel, and'an aperture formed within said pen barrel adjacent said eraser-holding means to provide an air flow passage to the interior of said pen barrels, and a coupling member having diametrically'opposed ends engageable with said securing means of said first and second pen barrels to said coupling member, said coupling member having a length equal to at least twice said second predetermined length but less than said first predetermined length.

2. A pen construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein said non-uniform ends of said ink cartridge is formed of a plurality of protuberances formed about the periphery of the cartridge and thereby forming a plurality of recesses between the protuberances through which air flow passes. 

1. A pen construction comprising in combination: first and second pen barrels each of a first predetermined length and each having exposed points at one end and eraser-holding means at the other end thereof, an eraser secured within said eraser-holding means of each pen barrel, said eraser and said eraser-holding means combining to form a second predetermined length substantially less than said first predetermined length of said pen barrels, securing means formed integral with said eraserholding means, said first and second pen barrels each include an end barrel formed adjacent said eraser-holding means, an ink cartridge secured within said pen barrels, each ink cartridge having a non-uniform end in abutment with the end wall of said pen barrel, and an aperture formed within said pen barrel adjacent said eraser-holding means to provide an air flow passage to the interior of said pen barrels, and a coupling member having diametrically opposed ends engageable with said securing means of said first and second pen barrels to said coupling member, said coupling member having a length equal to at least twice said second predetermined length but less than said first predetermined length.
 2. A pen construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein said non-uniform ends of said ink cartridge is formed of a plurality of protuberances formed about the periphery of the cartridge and thereby forming a plurality of recesses between the protuberances through which air flow passes. 